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Put your hands on the remote! browse music »Almost half-undressed by The Eisenhowers
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fave it Power Pop | Acoustic
12 tracks | 43 minutes
Released Jul 2006
on Serali
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:15 Useless love lyrics BUY MP3 04:15 Useless love lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:15 Useless love
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:47 Novelty act lyrics BUY MP3 03:47 Novelty act lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:47 Novelty act
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:02 25 o'clock lyrics BUY MP3 04:02 25 o'clock lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:02 25 o'clock
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:35 ... and consequently lyrics BUY MP3 02:35 ... and consequently lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:35 ... and consequently
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:01 Let's not talk about me lyrics BUY MP3 04:01 Let's not talk about me lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:01 Let's not talk about me
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:06 The Abracadabra Man lyrics BUY MP3 03:06 The Abracadabra Man lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:06 The Abracadabra Man
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 03:59 Jigsaw lyrics FREE 03:59 Jigsaw lyrics "GIFT MP3" 03:59 Jigsaw
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:50 If satellites should fall lyrics BUY MP3 02:50 If satellites should fall lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:50 If satellites should fall
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:41 Mr. and Mrs.Frankenstein lyrics BUY MP3 04:41 Mr. and Mrs.Frankenstein lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:41 Mr. and Mrs.Frankenstein
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:49 If I had to make a list lyrics BUY MP3 02:49 If I had to make a list lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:49 If I had to make a list
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:39 Constantinople lyrics BUY MP3 02:39 Constantinople lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:39 Constantinople
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 04:32 Plastic Jesus lyrics BUY MP3 04:32 Plastic Jesus lyrics "GIFT MP3" 04:32 Plastic Jesus
Literate, tuneful and punchy ... like Squeeze jamming with Jellyfish in Elvis Costello's front room.
Bio / Background
Focused on the songwriting of Raymond Weir, Scottish band The Eisenhowers have produced a debut album which sits nicely in the adult pop genre. Clearly inspired by the likes of Elvis Costello, Aimee Mann, XTC and Crowded House, ‘Almost half-undressed’ features 12 literate, punchy and often thoughtful songs covering a wide range of topics, including sex, celebrity, love, money, serial killers and even parenthood.
The tunes are mostly direct and guitar-driven, while Weir’s vocals are pitched somewhere between the gutteral Costello (circa ‘Armed Forces’) and the genial Glenn Tilbrook. The arrangements are tight and imaginative, while the production is always punchy and clean. There is a nice balance of light and shade, with plenty of neat harmonies and more catchy choruses than you could shake a stick at.
Like the acts that influence them, The Eisenhowers are lyrically cute and this album exhibits a healthy dose of cynical humour.
↓ more ↓There are some nice throwaway lines, like “you learn from experience that you don’t learn much from experience” from the marvellous ‘25 o’clock’, a would-be single with loads of musical reference points. Featuring retro synths, a disco bassline, crashing powerchords and harmonies straight out of the Beatles songbook, it’s simply made for radio play.
Several of the songs appear to focus on dysfunctional characters. The creepy ‘Plastic Jesus’ starts with a news story about a weeping religious figurine and ends up with a gun rampage, while ‘Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein’ features an insane celebrity couple filming a pop video in the jungle, complete with starving natives as the hapless extras.
In a rant worthy of Mr. Costello himself, the song sneers at the dark heart of these showbiz kids corrupted by fame, power and cosmetic surgery. The bizarre guitar motif befits the whole absurdity of the situation: “yes, you can be in my video, but just try not to breathe”. In the acoustic ‘Abracadabra Man’, a sinister politician (described as “another Napoleon” selling snow to Eskimos) goes door-to-door, signing people up for an unholy crusade.
But for all the sardonic vigour (Becker and Fagen are clearly an influence), there are lighter touches too. ‘If I had to make a list’ is a jazzy little song about parenthood which manages to avoid cloying sentimentality, while both the dreamy ‘Useless Love’ and the atmospheric ‘If satellites should fall’ extol the wonders of romantic infatuation, although in the latter, Weir can’t resist a punchline about the star-crossed lover who, when “staring up from solid ground” is inevitably “going to lose his way again”.
If this is, as their press release states, a compilation selected from two ‘failed’ album projects, it will be interesting to hear what The Eisenhowers -said to have the second album virtually in the can- come up with next.
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